PSY 242 - Brain Anatomy + Models of Abnormality: Cognitive-Behavioral + Sociocultural

Neurotransmitters

• chemicals released from one nerve cell to another

• abnormal activity in certain NTs can lead to specific mental disorders

Major Transmitters implicated in Psychopathology

• Serotonin

• Dopamine

• Norepinephrine

• GABA

Behavioral Model: Cause of Dysfunction

operant and classical conditioning and modeling produces behaviors that are maladaptive

Operant Conditioning

rewards and punishments shape our behavior

Classical Conditioning

two events occur closely together, become fused, and react to one as though the other were happening

Behavioral Model: Therapies

• Operant Conditioning

• Classical Conditioning

Behavioral Model: Strengths

good empirical (visible) evidence to support effectiveness to treat

Behavioral Model: Weaknesses

• not clear that symptoms are acquired through conditioning and modeling

• leaves out cognition

Cognitive Model: Cause of Dysfunction

maladaptive cognitive patterns lead to misinterpretations of events, distress, maladaptive behavior, or other impairment

Types of Cognitive Errors

• All or Nothing Thinking

• Catastrophizing

• Emotion Reasoning

• Fortune-Telling

• Mind Reading

• Overgeneralization

• Perfectionism

• Unquestioning acceptance of critics

• Comparing

Catastrophizing

exaggerating the negative aspects of an event

Cognitive Model: Therapies

Beck’s Approach:

• help Client to realize negative thoughts, biased interpretations

• Challenge those thoughts

• Try out new interpretations of events

Cognitive Model: Strengths

excellent empirical (visible) support for

• depression

• panic disorder

• other anxieties

• sexual dysfunction

Cognitive Model: Weaknesses

• unclear what if any problematic cognitive processes are central to many disorders

• helps many people, but not everyone

Cognitive-Behavioral: Cause of Dysfunction

maladaptive thinking and learning

Cognitive-Behavioral Model: Strengths

• broad appeal in clinical field

• uniquely human process focus

• therapies are effective in treating several disorders

• theories lend themselves to research

Cognitive-Behavioral Model: Weaknesses

• precise role of cognition in abnormality has yet to be determined

• therapies are not effective with everyone

• other key dimensions in life are not addressed

Sociocultural: Cause of Dysfunction

external pressures or cultural conflicts

Sociocultural Model: Therapies

• Culturally-Sensitive Therapies

• Group/Family Therapy

• Self-Help Groups

• Community Treatment (prevention efforts

Multicultural Perspective

all behavior and treatment are best understood in the context of culture, cultural values, and external pressures in that context

Sociocultural Model: Strengths

• treatments have some success where traditional models have not

• added to clinical understanding and treatment of abnormality

• increased awareness of clinical and social roles

Sociocultural Model: Weaknesses

• most research is correlational

• Big Problem - not able to predict which individual will suffer from disorder

Integration Models

Biopsychosocial Model

Biopsychosocial Model: Causes of Abnormality

• interaction of genetics/biological factors

• development

• emotional factors

• behavioral factors

• cognitive factors

• social factors

• cultural factors

Developmental Psychopathology Perspective

uses an integrative framework to understand how variables and principles from various models may collectively account for adaptive and maladaptive human functioning

Central Perspective Principles

• Equifinality

• Multifinality

Equifinality

having the same effect or results from different events

Multifinality

similar events can lead to different results